Make Your Voice Heard! Protect Our Future!
GET OUT YOUR PAPER AND PEN! We have another chance to make a difference!
Protect the Last Clean Water in Texas
The public comment period for TCEQ "Draft Permit" #WQ0015713001 has ended. TCEQ is busy writing their official 'Response To Comments' which will be made available sometime after October 26th, 2019.
Any comments submitted by the public after the TCEQ Public Meeting on August 26, 2019 are considered as 'backup materials'. HOWEVER, ANY COMMENTS FROM OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS REMAIN 'TIMELY.'
This means that our voice can still be heard, on a different level.
A VERY POWERFUL LEVEL.
OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS represent all of us. If any of them write TCEQ on our behalf, requesting that TCEQ deny this permit, their voice becomes part of our collective voice.
They can write to the
Chief Clerk
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 13087
Austin, TX 78711-3087
regarding the permit # WQ0015713001
Questions? Call (830) 460-1523
Our Letters will be counted! Write Today!
State Representative Andrew Murr
715 Water Street
Kerrville, TX 78028
State Senator Dawn Buckingham
819 Water Street
Suite 125
Kerrville, TX 78028
Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, TX 78711
US Senator Ted Cruz
9901 IH -10W, Suite 950
San Antonio, TX 78230
US Senator John Cornyn
600 Navarro, Suite 210
San Antonio, TX 78205
US Representative Chip Roy
125 Lehmann Dr., Suite 201
Kerrville, TX 78028
State Representative Tracey O. King
5500 S. Zapata Highway
Building F, Room 130
Laredo, Texas 78046
State Senator Donna Campbell
229 Hunters Village, Suite #105
New Braunfels, TX 78132
State Senator Kirk Watson
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, TX 78711
State Senator Pete Flores
P.O. Box 4100
Del Rio, Texas 78841-4100
Protect the Last Clean Water in Texas
The public comment period for TCEQ "Draft Permit" #WQ0015713001 has ended. TCEQ is busy writing their official 'Response To Comments' which will be made available sometime after October 26th, 2019.
Any comments submitted by the public after the TCEQ Public Meeting on August 26, 2019 are considered as 'backup materials'. HOWEVER, ANY COMMENTS FROM OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS REMAIN 'TIMELY.'
This means that our voice can still be heard, on a different level.
A VERY POWERFUL LEVEL.
OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS represent all of us. If any of them write TCEQ on our behalf, requesting that TCEQ deny this permit, their voice becomes part of our collective voice.
They can write to the
Chief Clerk
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 13087
Austin, TX 78711-3087
regarding the permit # WQ0015713001
Questions? Call (830) 460-1523
Our Letters will be counted! Write Today!
State Representative Andrew Murr
715 Water Street
Kerrville, TX 78028
State Senator Dawn Buckingham
819 Water Street
Suite 125
Kerrville, TX 78028
Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, TX 78711
US Senator Ted Cruz
9901 IH -10W, Suite 950
San Antonio, TX 78230
US Senator John Cornyn
600 Navarro, Suite 210
San Antonio, TX 78205
US Representative Chip Roy
125 Lehmann Dr., Suite 201
Kerrville, TX 78028
State Representative Tracey O. King
5500 S. Zapata Highway
Building F, Room 130
Laredo, Texas 78046
State Senator Donna Campbell
229 Hunters Village, Suite #105
New Braunfels, TX 78132
State Senator Kirk Watson
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, TX 78711
State Senator Pete Flores
P.O. Box 4100
Del Rio, Texas 78841-4100
The Battle to Keep Commissioners & Hondo Creek Pristine
The Friends of Hondo Canyon have come together to fight a legal battle to protect Commissioners’ Creek and upper Hondo Creek, spring-fed headwater streams with pristine water quality located in the upper Nueces River Basin. They are some of the last remaining classified stream units in Texas with no documented pollution concerns or impairments.
We are protesting wastewater permit No WQ0015713001, which has been proposed to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) by RR 417 LLC, a company that has plans to develop a for-profit Christian summer camp on its land in Tarpley, Texas. Sam and Chris Torn own the Company that has proposed the wastewater permit. If approved by the TCEQ, this proposed Wastewater Permit No WQ0015713001 will allow the Torns, who also own a popular Christian Boys Summer Camp in Arkansas called "Camp Ozark", to build an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant on the edge of their property in Tarpley that will discharge up to 49,000 gallons of treated waste water directly into Commissioner’s Creek. The Torns have stated in the draft permit that they will be applying for a water reuse permit, and will only discharge up to 25% of the effluent into the creek; however ANY discharge, no matter how small, sets a precedent for more permits to be approved. We simply cannot allow this to happen. Below we have listed reasons why. |
Creek & Aquifer Contamination
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This permit, if approved, will be a game changer for our creek. Commissioner & Hondo Creek has NEVER received effluent. There are 7 other TCEQ wastewater permits that WQ0015713001 is being compared to. This permit is NOT the same. The other 7 permits are for bigger creeks/rivers that have already receive wastewater effluent — and again — our creek has NEVER received effluent.
The concentration of nutrient in treated wastewater will be hundreds, to thousands, of times greater than current background levels in these creeks. Even the best, most highly treated wastewater, can be expected to “fertilize” a nutrient starved headwater stream, causing excessive algae growth and interrupting clarity, temperature, oxygen and aquatic life cycles. And importantly, after Commissioner’s Creek meets the Hondo, the Hondo Creek goes underground and flows into the Edward’s Aquifer Recharge Zone contributing its water to the Edward’s Aquifer. Accidental contamination is a significant issue. In addition, the removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products from the wastewater is absolutely impossible with the technology that is being proposed to use to treat the waste water. Hormones and chemicals will, without fail, pollute our creek and empty into the Edwards Aquifer which is a source of drinking water for over 2 million people in the south Texas region. Alternative Options are Readily AvailiableAlternatives exist! A Zero Discharge Permit would allow the disposal of treated waste water by irrigation, instead of discharge to a stream. Other camps and towns in the upper Nueces basin utilize irrigation/land application for disposal of treated wastewater. The Cornerstone Church Conference/Retreat Center at 12125 FM 470 uses a zero discharge system for a similar volume of use. These alternatives are no more costly; they permit native soil to cleanse treated wastewater prior to its entry into groundwater and stream beds. We ask RR417 LLC to do the right thing for us and for our land! Don’t pollute our creeks! We must come together as a community to stop the approval of this permit.
Air PollutionThe proposal locates the package plant at the very most downstream edge of their property. Required aeration for adequate microbial action will release H2S gas into the atmosphere, which has a very foul smell. The gas will also be carried by the wind downstream from this property. The neighbors will suffer consequences from the air pollution.
Drought & FloodDischarging effluent into a creek bed during drought will cause the allowable bacterial content of discharge water to multiply.
In the many years the members of Friends of Hondo Canyon have owned property in Tarpley, we have seen the effects of drought on the land and on the wildlife that depend upon the creek for drinking water. Commissioners creek can completely dry up during times of drought; a few spring fed puddles appear and these conditions have lasted for as long as a year. Effluent discharge is certainly not going to keep our creek clean in a drought. In addition to droughts, the other major characteristic of the central Texas corridor is flash floods. The founder of Friends of Hondo Canyon built a bridge over Commissioners Creek for ease of access to her property. In the past 15 years, the creek has risen 12-15 feet – a height 3 feet over her bridge on 5 occasions; this magnitude of rain will indeed cause raw sewage contamination of our creek. Location of Proposed Wastewater Plant |
The owners have chosen to locate their proposed wastewater system at the western most border of their property – hence, they will not experience any negative consequences from their purposeful impact of the environment. If this wastewater system fails – by poor design or by an act of nature, the owners will suffer no consequences to their riparian area, as the discharge will float downstream. This is unacceptable. If TCEQ does permit this plan, at the very least the site of the sewage treatment must be moved to the most eastern border of their property, so these landowners will suffer, along with their neighbors, the consequences of any accidental contamination of our air or our groundwater from their system.
Power Outages
Power outages happen. And they happen all the time. In Wylie, Texas, about 28,000 gallons of wastewater spilled at the North Texas Municipal Water District site, which then flowed into nearby Lake Lavon according to a report published by a local CBS Dallas news station. This happened during a heavy thunderstorm and power outage. The wastewater treatment plant failed because of the power outage!
The only way we can fight this is to join together. Our pristine creeks are worth the fight."
- Margo Denke, Founder of Friends of Hondo Canyon
We Need Your Help
There are a few things you can do to help us fight this battle.
1. WRITE THE ELECTED OFFICIALS LISTED ABOVE.
The public comment period has ended but our voice can be heard through comments from our elected officials. Will you please take a few minutes to drop a comment in the mail to one or more of the officials listed above. You don't have to live in their district to comment - your voice will not only count but if you are outside the district and still in Texas, your comment will be shared 'across the isle' between representatives and senators to bridge efforts for joining forces to protect the Texas Hill Country pristine waters.
here is a sample of a letter - make yours personal.
I am writing to request you make an official statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in support of FRIENDS HONDO CANYON for the denial of a pending Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES), permit # WQ0015713001 in Tarpley Texas. Here are three reasons why this permit should be denied:
The TCEQ has completed their review and a modified draft permit was published July 16, 2019. The draft permit does not do enough to protect our waterways because it still permits wastewater discharge into Commissioner’s Creek. FRIENDS OF HONDO CANYON is participating as much as we can under the administrative rules of the TCEQ. There was a Public Meeting on August 26, 2019; more than 250 concerned local and area citizens attended. 538 official comments have been filed. More than 15,000 people have signed a Change.Org Petition (https://www.change.org/p/tceq-keep-spring-fed-creeks-in-texas-clean ). Our efforts have gained significant unpaid media attention throughout the region, along with our paid media campaign.
The public comment period has ended; however, you and other elected officials still have a chance to speak up. We need you to comment prior to the Executive Director releasing its Response to Comments. We are asking that you speak out and ask TCEQ to deny this discharge permit.
We strongly believe this permit is wrong for Texas and wrong for the Texas Hill Country. Time is of the essence, and we respectfully ask that you respond to our group in writing by October 26, 2019 to let us know if you’ll join us in opposing this discharge permit.
Sincerely
2. Join our Neighborhood! Join FRIENDS OF Hondo Canyon.
dues are $10/year. Any donations above this amount go towards funding our cause. You can donate on line (Fundly charges 10% fee for this), donate by check (no fee charged by bank). We are a 501(c)3 organization and I will send you a tax receipt. Mail checks to:
Margo Denke Griffin
Secretary Treasurer
Friends of Hondo Canyon
11035 FM 470
1. WRITE THE ELECTED OFFICIALS LISTED ABOVE.
The public comment period has ended but our voice can be heard through comments from our elected officials. Will you please take a few minutes to drop a comment in the mail to one or more of the officials listed above. You don't have to live in their district to comment - your voice will not only count but if you are outside the district and still in Texas, your comment will be shared 'across the isle' between representatives and senators to bridge efforts for joining forces to protect the Texas Hill Country pristine waters.
here is a sample of a letter - make yours personal.
I am writing to request you make an official statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in support of FRIENDS HONDO CANYON for the denial of a pending Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES), permit # WQ0015713001 in Tarpley Texas. Here are three reasons why this permit should be denied:
- NO ONE WHO LIVES HERE wants this discharge permit to be approved. All seven counties in the Upper Nueces River Basin have passed resolutions (copies enclosed) in their respective County Commissioner’s Courts to support legislation to prevent TCEQ from accepting applications for direct discharge of pollutants in this sensitive area.
- It sets a major precedent. No one has ever been permitted to discharge pollutants into the Upper Nueces River Basin. This basin provides approximately 60% of the waters to the Edwards Aquifer. If this permit is approved, more permits will follow from other developers, placing the safety of the waters in this important aquifer at risk (background info enclosed).
- It is not an economic hardship to change to a zero-discharge permit (either septic or Texas Land Application). There are 81 similar youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, and all but one uses a zero-discharge method. These camps remain profitable.
The TCEQ has completed their review and a modified draft permit was published July 16, 2019. The draft permit does not do enough to protect our waterways because it still permits wastewater discharge into Commissioner’s Creek. FRIENDS OF HONDO CANYON is participating as much as we can under the administrative rules of the TCEQ. There was a Public Meeting on August 26, 2019; more than 250 concerned local and area citizens attended. 538 official comments have been filed. More than 15,000 people have signed a Change.Org Petition (https://www.change.org/p/tceq-keep-spring-fed-creeks-in-texas-clean ). Our efforts have gained significant unpaid media attention throughout the region, along with our paid media campaign.
The public comment period has ended; however, you and other elected officials still have a chance to speak up. We need you to comment prior to the Executive Director releasing its Response to Comments. We are asking that you speak out and ask TCEQ to deny this discharge permit.
We strongly believe this permit is wrong for Texas and wrong for the Texas Hill Country. Time is of the essence, and we respectfully ask that you respond to our group in writing by October 26, 2019 to let us know if you’ll join us in opposing this discharge permit.
Sincerely
2. Join our Neighborhood! Join FRIENDS OF Hondo Canyon.
dues are $10/year. Any donations above this amount go towards funding our cause. You can donate on line (Fundly charges 10% fee for this), donate by check (no fee charged by bank). We are a 501(c)3 organization and I will send you a tax receipt. Mail checks to:
Margo Denke Griffin
Secretary Treasurer
Friends of Hondo Canyon
11035 FM 470
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Other environmental organizations are fighting similar battles. However, The Friends of Hondo Canyon have a fighting chance to win this one because we are simply requesting that the Torns apply for a zero discharge permit instead of a permit that allows them to dump waste in the creek. We do not mind having the camp as our neighbors we just want them to respect the health of our creek and the livlihood of their neighbors by using a zero discharge permit instead! The Friends of Hondo Canyon have done everything we can to protest this permit. We have written letters to the Torns, asking them to please consider their neighbors by retracting the permit and applying for a Zero Waste Permit instead.
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We have written letters to the TCEQ, expressing our grievances against the proposed permit. We have submitted over 350 comments online to TCEQ asking them to deny this permit. Our chance for individual comments ended with the public meeting, but we can still comment through our elected officials, whose comments remain 'timely' until TCEQ has finished writing their response to our comments (which could be completed as soon as October 26, 2019). It is time to write again - this time to our politicians! We have hired an environmental lawyer to represent our nonprofit organization and prepare for a possible contested case hearing. The Torns are lawyers themselves, so there is no possibility of fighting them without legal representation. We have been quoted that this battle will cost upwards of 150,000 dollars in legal fees. This is where you come in. Please donate to our campaign, and help us keep Commissioners and Hondo Creek PRISTINE.
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